general fiction word of mouth The Year Nick McGowan Came to Stay Rebecca Sparrow Flash back to the 80s, Huey Lewis, stretch belts, 21 Jump Street and schoolyard crushes on boys – it brings back some memories. Rachel Hill is your consum- mate goodie-two-shoes and aims to please in all departments. She achieves well academically, is a school prefect and is competing to be par ty hostess of the month at the restaurant she works at. She also has a rather embar rassing obsession with Huey Lewis and the News. Nick McGowan is the antithesis of this and is ‘bad boy cool’ to the core. He smokes, wags school, and likes the Ramones. When the two of them are forced to live under the same roof sparks start to fly – not least because they are secretly pining for one another (well opposites attract, right?). While all this is going on Spar row takes a look at a few more serious issues such as dealing with the death of a friend, suicide, anaphylactic fits, teen drinking, dealing with ‘uncool’ parents and pressures regarding future careers. This is light and funny, written in a quickwitted fashion, and can be read in one sitting. Those who remember the 80s would have a bit of fun with it. ★★★ UQP $22.95 Reviewed by Melissa Wilson The Poe Shadow Matthew Pearl Lamplit fog, a cemetery, runaway carriages, flowing capes and drawn daggers, a forlorn maiden true – here is a Victorian novel for the 21st century: a brainteaser without the convoluted prose. It’s 1849. Handsome, wealthy young Baltimore lawyer Quentin Clark is convinced that his literary idol, Edgar Allan Poe, died in suspicious circum- stances, and is deter mined to expose the perpetrators. He believes that the model for Poe’s fictional detective, Dupin, is capable of solving the crime. Obsessed, impetuous, he brings two Dupins/Dupontes from Paris to Baltimore. Which one is genuine? They outdo each other in machinations and ratiocina- tion and put Quentin through the proverbial mill. This tale has more twists, tur ns, stops and sudden jolts than a ride on a switchback railway. Add a gallery of characters, a trunkful of coincidences and half-crazy Quentin as nar rator, and you won’t be reading it a page or two at bedtime. And you’ll never guess the broader implications of the quest. Will Pearl’s thorough research and logical deductions convince you that one of literature’s puzzles has been solved? In his ‘proof ’, he has brought Paris and ante-bellum Baltimore, complete with slaves, alive. Occasionally the pace slows or the plot bewilders but Pearl is already a bestseller and this comes with Dan Brown’s endorsement. Say no more! ★★★★ RG Harvill Secker $32.95 Reviewed by Barbara Baker